Sales of Tablets vs. PC predicted for this year

An interesting article over at techcrunch.com quotes the Analyst Gartner regarding the rise of Tablet devices , compared to the falling sales of traditional forms of electronic hardware such as desktop PC’s and laptops. Moreover, Gartner forecasts that by the end of 2014 the differentiation between PCs and tablet devices will be little as 18,000 units sold, which points to a sharp incline in favour of the more mobile devices and a large downturn in PCs and laptops.

Gartner states, that the worldwide shipping of Tablets this year will grow to 42.7% with a total of 184million shipments. This read in comparison to the traditional PC is stark reading for the more traditional hardware. Even though PCs still ship more units, there is expected to be as much as an 11.2% decline on the sales from 2012. This is an increasingly grim forecast from Gartner who previously noted that the decline would be as little as 7.3% in PC sales. Gartner believe that by 2017 Tablet devices will be out shipping both desktop computers and ultramobiles combined.

The realization of the Tablet as being the preferred electronic device of choice, has taken place for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, the Tablet is a far more practical device to carry on one’s person. This allows the user the ability to quickly change between work and play within one single device. There is no longer the need to carry around a bulky laptop or be working at desktop PC when you have a device that is unobtrusive and easily portable in this ever changing market.

Furthermore, the ubiquity of new Tablet devices on the market for cheap and affordable prices makes the purchasing of a laptop or desktop computer less appealing in this cash-strapped economy. The consumer purchasing low end tablets such as Amazon’s new Kindle Fire and Google’s Nexus are forcibly driving the price down of premium Tablet devices such as Apple’s iPad with their purchasing power. Thus, the Tablet is here to stay because it is more affordable and a more practical product to be transported from place to place.

How do you feel about the current trend towards Tablet devices? Are you more of a traditionalist and prefer desktop computers and laptops? Or do you think the desktop computer has had its time and needs to move aside for newer technology that appeals to the user in this ever changing and fast world we now live in?